Is Al Gore A Fossil-Fuel Industry Mole?

Did you hear the joke about the father of four telling everybody that overpopulation is killing the planet? Well, it's not a joke, it's Al Gore. Just when we thought we could go more than a month or two without new evidence of Al saying one thing and doing another, the father of four is taking hypocrisy to a new low, hectoring people about their need to make smarter birth choices to save the planet.

At some point in time we have to wonder whether Al is really this buffoonish, or whether he is a paid mole of the fossil fuel industry, cleverly taking on the role of Most Visible Global Warming Opponent only to purposefully sabotage the green agenda by offending absolutely everybody with his appalling hypocrisy.

Scene One: Here is Al Gore delivering the unwelcome news that we all need to tighten our belts and live more frugal lives, all while he is living in his enormous Tennessee mansion, sucking up more electricity in a single month than most of his Nashville neighbors use in an entire year.

Scene Two: Here is Al Gore flying a private jet from Nashville to Washington, D.C., as he prepares to badger Congress with a fire-and-brimstone sermon about fossil fuels ushering in a planetary catastrophe. Here is Al Gore flying a private jet again to a public speaking appearance in San Francisco. If greenhouse gas emissions are such a problem, why didn't Al save emissions by flying commercial first class? We know it's not for security concerns – the entire massage industry can testify that Al is the security issue to be feared rather than protected.

Scene Three: Here is Al Gore landing at Reagan National Airport. The Metro light rail system can take Al in a nearly emissions-free trip straight from the airport to the U.S. Capitol Building. But Al makes nary a move in the direction of the Metro stop. Shame on you, Al, you must be heading for a taxi cab. But wait, he's walking away from the taxi stand, also. Will Al lead by perfect example and walk or bike to the Capitol Building? Ugh, there he goes, getting into a limousine, making the wasteful emissions of a private taxi cab seem absolutely eco-friendly in comparison to his limo.

Scene Four: Al is pestering us again about how we have to tighten our belts or else the global sea level will rise dramatically and turn our coastal cities into Waterworld. Manhattan will soon be underwater and unrecognizable, Al promises. At the same time, the energy-guzzling Tennessee mansion is apparently not good enough for Al. There is Al buying yet another energy-guzzling multi-million dollar mansion, this time overlooking the Pacific Ocean along the Santa Barbara coast. What happened to all that sea level rise, Al?

Scene Five: Now we have the richly childed Al Gore telling us that the way to reduce global warming pollution is to reduce family size. "One of the things we could do … to put out less of this pollution [is to] to stabilize the population," said Al last week in a New York speech. "You have to have ubiquitous availability of fertility management so women can choose how many children to have, the spacing of children."

Stop it, Al. You're killing me.

Just between you and me, Al, I share your belief that global warming is not an imminent crisis. Sure, people are likely contributing somewhat to the moderate warming that has occurred in recent decades, but temperatures are still cooler than they have been for most of the past 10,000 years and we are a long way from a global warming crisis.

I get it that the best way for you to safeguard your mansions, your private jet travel, your comfy limousines, and your large family is to live such a hypocritical lifestyle that nobody will take your message seriously. I really do get it. It was, and is, a very clever plan.

But at some point, Al, you go too far overboard. At some point people begin to suspect the truth. At some point people begin to conclude that you really are a secret mole on behalf of the fossil fuel industry. At some point, Al – though your intentions are noble – you start ruining it for you and me both.

I am president of the Spark of Freedom Foundation. I write about energy and environment issues, frequently focusing on global warming. I have presented environmental analysis on CNN, CNN Headline News, CBS Evening News, MSNBC, Fox News Channel, and several national radio pr...